AUD/USD is calm on Thursday, as the pair trades in the low-0.81 range. In Australia, MI Inflation Expectations posted a gain of 3.2%. HIA New Home Sales softened in December, with a gain of 2.2%. Over in the US, today’s highlight was Unemployment Claims. The indicator dipped to 301 thousand, short of expectations.
US unemployment claims missed expectations for the second straight week. The key indicator improved to 309 thousand, better than the previous reading of 316 thousand. This fell short of the estimate of 301 thousand. Although the US labor market has improved, this is the fourth straight reading where unemployment claims has missed expectations. On Wednesday, construction readings were a mix. Building Permits came in at 1.03 million, short of the estimate of 1.06M. Housing Starts improved to 1.09 million, beating expectations of 1.04M.
Earlier in the week, there was good news from Australian consumer indicators. Westpac Consumer Sentiment impressed in December, as the indicator posted a strong gain of 2.4%, rebounding from a sharp decline of 5.7% a month earlier. The indicator has fluctuated considerably, making it a tricky task to gauge the mood of the Australian consumer. New Motor Vehicle Sales also looked sharp, posting an excellent gain of 3.0% gain.
AUD/USD January 22 at 14:20 GMT
- AUD/USD 0.8085 H: 0.8136 L: 0.8056
AUD/USD Technicals
| S3 | S2 | S1 | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 0.7799 | 0.7904 | 0.8081 | 0.8150 | 0.8214 | 0.8315 |
- AUD/USD edged lower in the Asian session. The pair recovered in European trade, putting pressure on resistance at 0.8150. The pair has backtracked in the North American session.
- 0.8081 is fluid and could see more action in the North American session. 0.7904 is stronger.
- 0.8150 is an immediate resistance line. 0.8214 is next.
- Current range: 0.8081 to 0.8150.
Further levels in both directions:
- Below: 0.8081, 0.7904, 0.7799 and 0.7684
- Above: 0.8150, 0.8214, 0.8315, 0.8456 and 0.8547
OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio
AUD/USD ratio is pointing to gains in long positions on Thursday. This is not consistent with the pair’s movement, as the pair has shown little movement. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards AUD/USD moving higher.
AUD/USD Fundamentals
- 13:30 US Unemployment Claims. Estimate 301K. Actual 309K.
- 14:00 US HPI. Estimate 0.4%. Actual 0.8%.
- 15:00 US Consumer Confidence. Estimate -11 points.
- 15:30 US Natural Gas Storage. Estimate -231B.
- 16:00 US Crude Oil Inventories. Estimate 2.5M.
*Key releases are highlighted in bold
*All release times are GMT